The Port of Long Beach has welcomed into service the primary of two new state-of-the-art fireboats that can the port assist turn into extra ‘big ship’ prepared sooner or later. 

The fireboat, named Protector, was devoted throughout a ceremony held Wednesday in reminiscence of Donald Domenic DiMarzo, a former Long Beach Fire Department captain and fireplace marshal aboard the USS Intrepid within the Pacific throughout World War II. DiMarzo was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross for extraordinary heroism and distinguished service for main efforts to avoid wasting the plane service after an assault that set it ablaze on November 25, 1944.

Protector is provided with 10 water cannons able to extinguishing fires within the harbor or on close by land with greater than 41,000 gallons per minute — 4 occasions the output of the prevailing fireboats. The fireboat can shoot water the size of two soccer fields, and better than a 20-story constructing, that means firefighters can throw water or foam wherever aboard the world’s largest container ships and oil tankers.

The new, multi-mission fireboats can even help with chemical, organic, radiological and nuclear threats. Other options embrace services for medical therapy, a command info heart, increase deployment to comprise spills and an onboard crane.

“We have to be prepared for any potential hazard,” mentioned Harbor Commission President Lori Ann Guzmán. “Protector is a major improvement in our emergency response capabilities, helping us to safeguard both the Port and our community.”

Protector and a second, still-under-construction boat, “Vigilance,” will exchange the Port’s fireboats “Challenger” and “Liberty,” which started service within the late Nineteen Eighties and had been designed throughout an period when vessels had been carrying 4,500 containers. Earlier this 12 months, the Port of Long Beach welcomed its first ‘megaship’, the MV CMA CGM Benjamin Franklin, with a 18,000 containers. Although there are not any agency plans to carry extra ‘megaships’ to the port for the time being, the Port of Long Beach says it expects even bigger ships coming sooner or later.

“These new fireboats are specifically designed for the Big Ship Era,” mentioned Port of Long Beach CEO Jon Slangerup. “They’re amazing, state-of-the art machines built to protect the ships of today and tomorrow.”

The development value for the 2 boats is $51.6 million, together with $18.5 million in grant funding from Homeland Security’s Port Security Grant Program.

Design for the 2 boats was supplied by Robert Allan Naval Architecture. Other companions within the challenge included Foss Maritime Co., Jensen Maritime Consultants, the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Administration.